Sustainability 2012, 4, 682-702; doi:10.3390/su4040682 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Article Biogas Production Potential from Economically Usable Green Waste Daniel Pick 1,*, Martin Dieterich 2 and Sebastian Heintschel 2 1 University of Freiburg, Zentrum für Erneuerbare Energien, Tennenbacherstr. 4, Freiburg 79106, Germany 2 Institut for Landscape and Vegetation Ecology, University of Hohenheim, August-von-Hartmann-Str. 3, Stuttgart 70599, Germany; E-Mails:
[email protected] (M.D.);
[email protected] (S.H.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.:+49-0-761-4894429. Received: 16 February 2012; in revised form: 2 April 2012 / Accepted: 6 April 2012 / Published: 18 April 2012 Abstract: Biomass production for energy purposes on agricultural land competes with food production. This is a serious problem, considering the limited availability of farmland, rising demand for varied food products, demand for more organic crop production resulting in considerably reduced yields per area and the need for more environmentally sound agricultural practices meeting long-term sustainability criteria. Residual land currently not used for agricultural production has been considered a promising resource, but in terms of potentials, difficult to estimate for biomass for use in the energy sector. Biomass potentials associated with “green waste” from residual grasslands were assessed for Schwäbisch Hall County in the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Roadside edges, conservation grasslands subject to low intensity use (landscape maintenance sites), riparian stretches along ditches and streams, and municipal green spaces (public lawns, parks and sports fields) were the area types considered.